Exterminated
by allie2696
Summary: AU What would happen if Amon came to power when Aang was alive? What would happen if Amon defeated Aang and took control of Republic City? In a world where bending is forgotten, where benders are taken away by the government, Korra, the avatar who had to grow up alone on the streets and has no knowledge of bending, must defeat Amon. Makorra and Bosami
1. Chapter 1

Korra scouted the streets of the city for food as she had every night for the past eleven years. She lived out there alone ever since her parents were taken from her; she was six. Now at the age of seventeen she was used to her life of solitude and struggling. The only friend she had was a small white stray dog she found and named Naga when she was eleven years old. After a few years out on the streets, she fashioned out a daily routine for herself. She would sleep during the day, the more she slept the less she would have to eat, and then hunt out food during the night. She would often steal food from restaurants that forgot to lock their back doors, or ones where she could pick the lock. She liked the night, for some strange reason she felt stronger during the night. She felt revitalized when she saw the moon and its light would shine upon her. She never thought much of it; she just concluded that feeling to all just be in her head.

During the night she was also safer. The police, or also some of the other street dwellers called them equalists like she knew what they meant, would patrol all over the city at all times of the day and were not particularly kind to people like Korra. They wore dark green and red suits with a black mask that had one big red dot on the forehead and neon green goggles. If they caught someone stealing or committing any other crime, they would take that person away and no one would ever see them again. They were under the direct control of President Amon. For these reasons, many of the street dwellers resented the police and President Amon. When she was nine, she asked one older lady why the police focused in on them and resented people like her. The only thing the old lady told her was that most people living on the streets were special and the government feared their special abilities. Korra thought about what the lady told her for awhile. She had no idea what the lady meant, she wasn't special she was just Korra.

She was walking through the alleyways, closing in on her next target, an upscale restaurant named Kuang's cuisine. She hid in the shadows as she walked closer. She closed in on the back door. She turned the doorknob, locked. She took out her trusty bobby pin from her hair, the only thing she had holding back her unruly hair. She moved fast, trying to avoid being caught by the police. Though to her surprise, as she was picking the lock a man opened the door from the other side. He came out and saw Korra trying to get in. He was young, probably a busboy.

Anger grew on the boy's expression; he knew why she was there and she knew that he knew. He yelled, calling for the cops. Korra's eyes widened in surprise and she quickly punched the boy in the face in hope that it would stop him from alerting the police. During her life, Korra had been in her fair share of fights so she knew how to handle herself when it came to fighting. The boy punched back angry as ever. She dodged the first punch to the face but let one blow to her stomach hit her. She yelled out in pain. Then, out of complete rage, she pinned him to the wall and grabbing his shirt. She held her right arms up in a fist to punch him. As she moved her hand to impact his face a fire ignited in her hand. She stopped in shock. They were both shocked. She had no idea what she had done. She stood there still holding the boy and her hand was still up in the punching position with flames surrounding it. She looked at the fire in her control with widened eyes. The boy looked as if he was in complete fright. He could barely speak.

"Wha- What are you?" He weakly let out between breaths. Korra thought about that. What was she? How was she able to do this? How was she able to control fire?

Still holding the flame in her hand, she saw a group of policemen out of the corner of her eye. There were about four policemen at the end of the alleyway. One blew his whistle calling more reinforcements and then they all ran towards Korra. Korra let go of the boy, he immediately fell to the ground, and she started to run off in the opposite direction. Terror grew in Korra. She had dealt with the cops before, but not this much. She ran as fast as she could, and running into different alleyways but nothing was keeping the cops off of her tail. As a last result, she tried to conjure up a flame like she had before. Fire busted from her fist, she punched back at the police as she ran sending fire at them. Korra had no idea what she was doing or how she was even able to create fire but she was glad she was able to do it. However, the police were agile enough to dodge her attacks. As she ran she noticed the police that were chasing her were swinging what appeared to be a rope with two spheres at the end of each side in the air. One of the men threw the weapon at her but she barely dodged it. Another one was thrown at her but this time she wasn't so lucky. The rope wrapped around her then electrocuted her. She winced and fell to the ground as she screamed in pain. The police walked towards her then surrounded her. One policeman hit her on the head with a wooden club rendering her unconscious. As she was falling unconscious she faintly heard the words "firebender, bring her to the camp," before falling totally asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Korra awoke in a dark room. She was lying on the floor made completely of metal, it was cold and damp. As she breathed out she could see the air coming from her mouth. There was only one light on the ceiling in the small room she was in. She was weak, she could barely move. Her arm was positioned by her face; she could see the burn marks from where she was electrocuted. She was scared; this place was foreign to her. She noticed the silhouette of someone in the shadows of the far corner of the small room. She concentrated her eyes on this unfamiliar figure and concluded the figure to be a man. She didn't know who he was but since he was there with her he might know where she was and why she was here.

"Hello?" She let out weakly, hardly comprehensible. He didn't hear her. "Hello." She said a little bit louder.

He turned his head in her direction. His was now in the light. She could see his face now. He had dark as night black hair, light skinned and golden amber eyes. She admittedly thought he was attractive. He looked beaten up. His clothes were ripped and frayed. He had bruises, cuts and scars on his skin. He wore a grey long sleeved shirt rolled up to his elbows, black pants and an iconic red scarf. She took a closer look at him, she could notice blood stains on his clothes. He seemed immune to the temperature of the room, or at least he was used to it, while she was shivering. His expression was defeated. He regretfully smiled lightly at her.

"I guess you're awake now." He expressed in a low tone.

She slowly sat up "Wh- who are you?"

"I'm Mako, your cell mate. And you?"

"I'm Korra. Wait, cell mate? Where am I?"

"You're in one of _his_ working camps where we are forced to either work or die." He scowled.

"Who is _he_?" She innocently asked.

"Amon." He winced just saying that name.

"Do you mean President Amon?"

"If that's what you call him, yeah I guess, but he isn't _my_ president."

"Well then why am I here?"

He looked at her with a serious expression. "Because you're a bender."

"A bender, what is a bender?"

He was confused. "You don't know?" She turned her head back and forth. "Well, a bender is someone who can control and use as they will with one of the four elements: air, water, earth and fire. I am a firebender and I guess since you are in the same cell as me that you are a firebender too."

"That explains why fire came out of my hands and why I could control it. But, why does being a bender mean that I have to come here?"

He leaned on the wall behind him. "About eighteen years ago there was a revolution. I was just born. Amon and his equalists started gaining power. They stood for the non benders, or people who can't bend an element, and were against the oppression of non benders by benders, which would be okay if they approached the solution to their problem diplomatically. However, Amon and the equalists hated all benders and sought out to "equalize" everyone. So they could reach the equalization that they wanted Amon would physically take the bending away from people and sever their connection to their element, to this day no one knows how. They soon after became a terrorist organization. Amon's cause grew popularity fast, many of non benders fought for his cause but there were also many who didn't agree with him. Benders of all kinds, including Avatar Aang, fought against him to stop him from hurting innocent citizens. Full out war started. Amon quickly realized that no matter what he did the benders would still fight back; instead of taking their bending away he would kill them to reach equalization. In one of the last battles of the war, about a year after its start, Avatar Aang was killed in battle. Once that happened, the war was basically lost for benders and people against Amon. Amon took control of Republic City and rounded up all benders and brought them to the camps. There are two types of camps: death camps, where you simply are killed, and work camps, which is where we are. All children and elders that were taken were killed, because they would not be able to handle the heavy workload of the work camps. Also, if there were already enough people working on the work camps or if people defied the government they would automatically bring those people to the death camps. Bending, for centuries, was once an art form, celebrated by many and known by all, but now bending is a crime punishable by death and benders are forced to hide their powers or be kept down by the government, no one even remembers it anymore."

She moved next to him also leaning on the wall behind her. "What is the avatar?"

"The avatar is someone who can control all four elements. They are reborn into one of the four elements as their native element and when they die they are born into the next. The last avatar we had was Avatar Aang from the Air Nomads. The avatar's job is to keep peace between all people."

"So then, where is the new avatar to stop this?"

He lowered his head. "I don't know. Amon claims that Avatar Aang was killed in the avatar state, meaning that the avatar lineage is stopped forever, but I personally don't believe it. The next avatar is supposed to come from the water tribes, so their native element is water. I don't know, you might think I'm crazy a lot of people do, but I have this feeling that the avatar is out there somewhere and is still alive and someday he is going to fight back against Amon and stop all of this."

"No I don't think you're crazy, I believe you. Plus, it doesn't hurt to hope for something." She told him with a smile. Mako smiled back at her. "Although, how does the government get away with this? I mean, bending was a part of not only benders but non bender's history. I am a bender and I didn't even know what it was."

"When Amon took full control, he copied the technique used by the former Dai Li from Ba Sing Se and basically warped anyone's memories of anything that had to do with bending. So, you were either brought to the camps, or lost your memory. The newer generations don't know about it because there is no one to teach them about it."

"Then how do you know about it?"

"Amon didn't bother to wipe the memory of the benders since they would be cut off from society if not killed. Some benders went into hiding, pretending to be non benders, and others but, not a lot, actually escaped from these camps. People who escaped were few and far between because the security is extremely tight but apparently it is possible. Many people who do this have to live on the streets to avoid the government. My parents faked their death along with a few other families and the rest of the resistance that they were in when I was young and took up new aliases as non benders. My parents taught me and my younger brother, Bolin, all about bending and its history. They also trained us in secret. My father taught me firebending and my mother taught Bolin earthbending. When I was seven the government uncovered a list of most of the families that faked their death, hiding under the government's nose, then they rounded up all of those people and took them directly to the death camps. On the night that the government took my parents my mother and father knew what was going to happen. They came into our room and told us to run, so we did. Bolin and I were reluctant at first, we didn't know the entirety of what was going on, but my mother made us. She told us that they would meet up with them later but I knew she was lying. My father gave me his scarf for safety. So we ran and I've never seen them since." From the memories, one tear fell from his eyes. He clenched the scarf that was around his neck with his hand.

Korra placed one hand on his shoulder for reassurance. "I- I'm sorry. I lost my parents at a young age too. I was six."

He looked at her, shattered. "What happened?"

"My memories are sort of foggy, but like you my parents were taken away from me during the night. I never got to say goodbye though. I was lying in my bed, I wasn't tired, and then I heard the doorbell ring. I got out of bed and opened my bedroom door slightly to see who it was. My parents didn't know I was awake, or at least I didn't think they knew. They opened the front door. A police officer was at the door. He handcuffed my parents, and they didn't fight back. Another police officer was there too. He walked towards the steps as he asked 'where is she?' My parents didn't answer until he started to walk up the stairs. My mother cried out. 'She is not who you are looking for! Leave my baby alone!' She was in tears. The officer ignored her and continued to walk up the stairs to my room. My father looked at me with a stern but broken expression. I looked back, I admittedly was scared. He mouthed the word 'run' to me and I jumped out of my window onto the tree beside my house. I hid in the shadows by my house for a little bit. I waited for the police officers to leave but when they did they left with my parents. They left in a truck and after that day I was living alone on the streets. I didn't know why any of that happed but now I guess I do, they were benders."

"And they were hiding you from the equalists because you were a bender, too."

"Yeah I guess they knew that about me before I did."

His eyes widened. "Wait, how old are you?"

"Seventeen, why?"

"If I was seven when my parents were taken and now I'm eighteen and you were six then do you think our parents were in the resistance together? Maybe they knew each other."

"Maybe, I mean it would make sense. But, what exactly was the resistance?"

"Well the resistance is a group of people who are against Amon and their main goal is to take him down. You can't tell anyone what I am about to tell you, even benders, conditions like this can make anyone squeal. It is run by Lin Beifong and Master Tenzin, Aang's son. It was created right after Amon took full control. They all faked their death and now live against the law undermining everything Amon does. The resistance lost a lot of people around the same time my parents were taken. No one, even benders, know where they are based unless you are actually in the resistance. The only way to join is by invite. Since my parents were part of the resistance my brother and I were allowed to be part of it too when Beifong found us on the streets when I was thirteen. I'm in the resistance, or at least I was before I was captured."

"How did you get captured?" She asked.

"It's not even an exciting story but it was about five months ago. My brother and I were walking in the market place downtown. I guess someone tipped off the police that we are benders and gave them our pictures because the minute the officers that were positioned there saw us we were handcuffed and brought here. Good thing they didn't know we were part of the resistance because if they did we would be dead right now. What about you?"

"Oh it's nothing, I just got in a fight last night, or I guess tonight I don't know what time it is, and fire bursted from my hand and the cops saw me and attacked me."

"The cops probably would have attacked us if it were broad daylight." He noticed her shivering. "Are you cold?"

"Yeah, it is freezing in here. Why?"

"They keep it cold in here and the oxygen levels low enough so it is almost impossible for us to bend in here. You'll eventually get used to it." He took off his scarf and, to Korra's surprise, he wrapped it around her neck. "Here, you can wear my scarf." He smiled. His hands lingered as he wrapped the scarf around her. Their eyes locked, but then he broke their stare.

She blushed a little bit and smiled. "Thank you."

Unlike before, Mako grew colder towards Korra. He turned on his side away from her. "You're welcome. I'm going to go to sleep now, you probably should too they wake us up pretty early." Then it was silent. She moved to the ground and laid on her hands for comfort as she held the red scarf close to her. She closed her eyes and went to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Korra awoke to the sound of wailing sirens coming from outside of their cell. The sirens rang across the entire camp to wake up the prisoners. Mako was awake. She moaned a little bit then closed her eyes again.

"Hey, get up." Mako told her.

She opened her eyes and growled at him. She sat up. "I hate the mornings. They're evil. What time is it?"

"Firebenders usually don't mind the mornings, considering their connection with the sun, weird. And it's about five in the morning."

"Ew," Korra moaned. She looked down to see that Mako's scarf was still around her neck. She took it off. "Here's your scarf Mako, thanks."

He shook his head. "No, you're going to need it. Keep it for awhile, at least the first few days you're here."

Korra was confused. "Why, am I going to need it?"

Mako put his hand behind his neck and looked at her. He pointed and gestured to her with his other arm. "Well, um, you're going to need it to cover your- I mean you should cover, um, your you know." He said awkwardly. Korra wasn't grasping what he meant. "You need to cover your- your shoulders and your, um-" He gestured again at her.

"My chest?" She gave him a look. He nodded silently. "Why would I need to cover up my chest?" She asked.

"Well, um, the guards sometimes do things to their female prisoners. They force themselves upon them and force them to do things, like sexual things to them. They mainly go after the newer girls, you know, to basically to break their spirits." Mako wasn't the best at talking about these sorts of issues.

"Wait, so the guards rape the girls here?! That's atrocious."She was taken aback. She put the scarf back on.

"Yeah, it's barbaric. They'll rape you then punish you for being late at your post. And I was thinking this since-you-are-a-girl-and-you-are-I-guess-attractive-I-was-worried-about-you." He let out extremely fast. He blushed a little bit.

She smirked at him. "So, Mako is worried about me? I bet I was in your dreams." She joked.

He laughed. He smiled. "Shut up." He told her, hiding the truth. He couldn't deny she was right. "So, do you have any questions about this place before they take us away for another grueling day of work?"

She thought for a second. "Um, yeah, are we together?"

He blushed. "Um, what do you mean? I mean we just met and all and this isn't the best circumstances for a rela-" He said flustered.

"Are we working together?"

"Oh, no, even though we bend the same element we do different types of jobs. See, I not only can bend fire but I can also lightning bend. It is a special technique of firebending only some people can do it. My father taught me. It takes years of training. I will be working in the energy plant. They basically use our lighting to power the city and you will be working in the weapons manufacturing factory. You'll be igniting to coal ovens that run the factory. You might see my brother Bolin there. He's a metalbender, a shot off of earthbending, who makes their weapons. They repress us and force us to do the work that basically fuels their regime and our suffering."

"You really hate this place, don't you?"

"I hate it along with anything _he _did with every ounce of my body. Once you've been here for a few days and know and experience the real brutality we have to face, you will hate this place too." There was a moment of silence.

"So, um, what do the other benders do?"

"There is nothing for airbenders because the only airbenders left aren't in the camps, but the waterbenders purify the water for the city and occasionally heal the officers and other equalists, and the earthbenders mine rocks and build buildings for the equalists. The jobs might not seem that bad but they push us to our breaking point and if we mess up just a little bit we will be punished."

"So I won't get to see you until the end of the day?" She asked. He smiled.

"Not necessarily, they do actually give us one thing. After midday they give us a fifteen minute break for lunch. Thought, the lunch really isn't lunch, it's basically scraps left behind after the guards and officers ate. We hardly are left with any food, but that is purposely done. Lunch is also heavily watched. Though we to get to sit with whomever we want as long as there is no suspiciousness. It's the only time I ever get to see my brother."

"So, I'll see you at lunch."

"Yeah." He surprisingly was happy about that. He really hadn't been happy before she arrived. Suddenly, they heard a scream coming from a few cells down. The smile on Mako's face died down immediately. He returned to his stoic normalcy and took her hand. There was a little bit of fear in his eyes, but not for himself. "Okay Korra, you have to listen up. The guards are going to come in here and handcuff us to take us to our work posts. Most mornings they ruff you up a little bit first but you have to promise me that no matter what you do, do not talk to them. You will only give in to what they want. They want you to talk and show emotion so they get you riled up enough to fight back, maybe even try to bend at them, and then they will drastically punish you. Don't fuel the fire, both figuratively and literally. Fighting one of the guards is one of the most punishable crimes you can do here, they take it personally. So Korra, promise me that you will stay strong and not let them win, not just now but the entire time you are in this camp." She nodded.

Right after, their door burst open. Their heads turned to see a man standing in the doorway dressed exactly like the cops around republic city, green and red jump suits with a mask that had neon green goggles and a red dot on the forehead. "Wake up!" He screamed at them. Mako let go of her hand and they distanced themselves. Korra was terrified. He walked in and started to circle Korra.

"Hum, what do we have here? A newbie, a very attractive newbie."He started to stroke her hair. Korra remained unmoved as she watched him. She was frightened. Mako growled. The man turned around at Mako. Mako was clearly angry. "What, is she your girlfriend, you worthless firebender? She is wearing your scarf so she has to be your girlfriend." He didn't answer. He just stared at the man with a raging expression. "You don't like me touching your girlfriend?" Mako didn't answer, but his eyes let out everything. Mako hated that he touched her. The guard knew that.

The guard turned back at Korra. "Well, since you're not saying she's your girlfriend then I have to guess that she isn't your girlfriend, and if she's not your girlfriend you have no right to be angry about me touching her, unless of course you have feelings for her. But nonetheless you can't do anything about it anyway." He smirked.

He put his arm on Korra's shoulder. Mako growled as he watched the guard's hand move down Korra's arm. Korra felt uncomfortable about this. She probably would have punched the guard already if she hadn't promised to Mako that she wouldn't fight any of the guards. The guard's hand left her arm then moved to her stomach. From the stomach the guards hand moved to her thigh. His hand stayed there for a while, he stroked it up and down her thigh riving Mako to his boiling point. Mako hadn't exploded yet, that is until the guard moved his hand to her inner thigh. The guard was just about to pull off her pants with his other hand when Mako stood up.

"Get off of her!" Mako yelled.

The guard grinned. He still hadn't complied with Mako's command. "So, you do speak. This is the first time I actually made you break and it's all because of this girl."

"I said get off of her!" He fumed.

"What are you going to do about it? Are you going to bend at me? Why don't you try, see how that works for you." Mako turned his head away knowing that if he even tried anything he would be severely punished. "You're nothing without your bending. That's because people like you are worthless scum. You can't do anything."

Mako was just about to risk everything and beat the crap out of that guy when a woman equalist showed up at the door. "I think that is enough torture for the prisoners for the morning." She told the guard.

He stood up. "There is never enough torture for these bending bottom feeders."

"Just put them in line." She commanded. "You get the girl. I've got the boy."

The guard pulled Korra up by her hair. She screamed in pain. He continued to pull her by her hair as they walked out of the room. The woman equalist walked in. Mako collapsed onto the floor holding his head.

"I almost ruined everything." He let out in grief.

The woman kneeled down next to him and took off her mask. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm more worried about Korra."

"Your cell mate?" He nodded. "Is she a friend of yours?"

"Yeah I guess you can say that."

"Mako, you know she can't come with us when we find what we are looking for."

He looked at her. His expression was serious. "Asami, why not?"

"Beifong wouldn't like it. We don't know if we can trust her."

"I really don't care about what Beifong thinks. I'm not going to leave her alone in this place. We can trust her, I'm telling you. I don't know what it is but I have a feeling that she would be a good help to our cause. Plus, she already knows about us, about the resistance."

"Shush." She told him. She grinned "You like her don't you?"

"What, no. I just met her." He secretly blushed.

"If you don't like her, then how are you able to trust her? Mako, I know you, and you are not the type of person to just all of a sudden trust someone. You like her."

"Yeah, well I don't."

"Whatever, I think you do. We got to get you in line."

They stood up, she put on her mask and she then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. She pulled him to the double person line. He was right next to Korra. Everyone was quiet.

"You okay?" Korra quietly whispered to Mako.

"Yeah I'm fine. Are you okay?" He whispered back.

"More of less, yeah, I'm just going to be a little mentally scarred for awhile." Mako giggled a bit. "Hey, don't laugh it's true."

They stopped talking when their lines were directed to walk. They stayed with each other until Mako's line went to the energy plant and Korra's line went to the factory.


	4. Chapter 4

Korra and the rest of her line of about a hundred people were directed into the basement of the factory. It was poorly lighted and the temperature was very warm. She felt it was a nice break from the freezing temperatures of her cell but this temperature was still unbearable. The room was filled with piles of coal and steam engines connected to the wall to her left. They were all heavily watched by the guards. While Korra was puzzled as to where to go or what to do the others from the line moved to their working posts. An equalist guard grabbed her by the arm and moved her in front of a steam engine.

"You work here. You pick up the coal from the piles from the other side of the room behind you and throw them into the engine that powers the factory. Then you light the fire. Continue this in repetition. No mistakes. Now work!" The equalist yelled before leaving Korra.

"Seriously, don't make mistakes; they will punish you for that. You're new here, right?" The woman on the next engine told her. She was in her mid thirties. She was pale skinned, with short black hair. Her clothes looked like rags and she was very skinny, almost like she was starved. She looked as if she was tortured but she still gave Korra a smile. Korra nodded to her in response. "Well, good luck. You're going to hate this."

Korra began to work. She walked over to the piles of coal and took an arm full of coal as the other workers had. She threw the coal into the engine as instructed and then bent fire to ignite it. She was weak at first since she was never trained on even how to do it, which caused her to be yelled at but she eventually got the hang of firebending. As she worked she could hear the commands of many different guards yelling at the workers. They would yell statements like "Carry more coal!" or "Work faster!"

Korra was working for six hours, and at that point she was getting tired and weaker, but so were the other workers. The woman next to her was carrying coal when her legs buckled from exhaustion. She collapsed onto the floor spilling coal everywhere around her. An equalist guard walked up to her. She looked at him with fear in her eyes.

"You're slowing down your work! Are you trying to sabotage production?" He yelled to her. Korra watched silently as she continued to work.

"No, no, no. I just fell. I'm very tired and I haven't eaten a full meal in days. I'm sorry." She pleaded.

"No excuses!" He slapped her of the face. "Maybe you are not fit enough to work anymore. Maybe you need to take a break." She sighed in a little relief. "Maybe you need to take a break with the executioner!" Her eyes widened in surprise and fear. He picked her up by the arm.

Korra stopped what she was doing. She couldn't stand to just watch idly and not help this lady. "No!" She yelled. The entire room looked at Korra. "It was just an accident. She just fell. And that's because you keep us in these awful conditions and torture us! How do you expect us to work well when we have no energy to do so?" Korra had no idea what she was doing. She knew she was going to get in trouble for this and that this was exactly what Mako said not to do, but she couldn't just watch someone get killed, especially not for something so menial.

The equalist dropped the woman; she fell onto the ground. The same equalist then walked over to Korra. Then the lunch bell rang. The other workers, including the woman walked out of the room. Korra was forced to stay. Another equalist handcuffed her arms together behind her back.

"It looks like we have a spirited girl here. But you see, we don't like people with spirit here. We don't like it when people fight back with us and when people do that we have no choice but to punish them." He told Korra. She just looked back at the man with an angry grin on her face. "I think this deserves twenty lashes. Lift her shirt." He told the other equalist.

The other equalist raised her shirt above her shoulders so that it exposed her back. Then the equalist who had yelled at her pulled out a leather whip and commenced to beat her with the whip on her back for twenty times. She screamed in pain. "Shut up!" He commanded to her. So she stayed quiet. She winced every time the equalist hit her with the whip.

"Sorry Mako." She silently said to herself as one tear fell from each of her eyes.

After her punishment the two equalists left the room. She was alone in there for a few minutes until the lunch break was over. She collapsed onto the floor in that dark room. Water fell from her eyes from the pain. Her back was covered in cuts and the back of her shirt that she put back on was covered in blood that seeped through. She wasn't allowed a lunch break for the day and she was forced back to work when everyone else returned for another demanding eight hours of work.

* * *

Mako sat down on an old bench across from his brother. They were given one piece of bread and watered down soup for lunch. Mako looked around the room for Korra but she wasn't there. He started to worry.

"Hey, bro, what's up?" Bolin asked Mako. Mako didn't hear him; he was caught in a trance looking around the room for Korra. "Mako," Bolin called out to him.

"Huh, what?" Mako said, taken out of his trance.

"Mako, why are you so distracted?"

"Oh, I was just looking for Korra. She said she was going to meet me for lunch."

"Who's Korra?" Bolin asked him.

"She's my cell mate. She's new here." He smiled to himself thinking about her.

Bolin grinned at Mako. "Oh, I see, she's the girl you like."

"What? No! I don't like her. We're just friends. How do you even know that?"

"Asami told me. She was watching the metalbenders before. And you smiled before, you never smile. "

"Apparently news travels fast for a concentration camp." He said sarcastically. "And even if I did like her I wouldn't act upon those feelings. I mean we could be killed at anytime or die from exhaustion. This isn't the best place to find someone I really like. Plus, me, you and Asami have a mission that we have to get done, I'm not going to let my feelings get in the way of that."

"Mako, I can tell you like her, I'm your brother. So, where's your scarf?"

"I gave it to Korra."

"I should have guessed." Bolin grinned.

"Shut up."

There was a moment of brief silence while they ate. "Mako, I just need to know, would you do anything to keep her safe?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Then, once we find the new avatar and complete our mission for Beifong. If you want to take her with us when we leave this place, then take her. I mean, if you really care about this girl you can't just let her go. I just want my brother to be happy. You just have to know that the more people we take can hurt our chances of making it out of this place alive."

"Yeah I know." He lowered his head.

Mako kept waiting for Korra but she never showed up. He was concerned about her and began to fear what might have happened to her. He saved his piece of bread, the only solid food he was given, for Korra. He returned to work after lunch.

* * *

Korra was sitting on the ground in her cell with her shoulder against the wall. She was positioned partially in the shadows of the room and she stared at the wall beside her. Her arms were crossed around her knees, holding them close. She was holding back tears. She felt that she needed to be strong. Mako was brought to the room by one of the guards. Then, the guard left and locked their door.

"Hi, Korra."

"Hey." Korra replied solemnly.

Mako looked at her. The way she was positioned and her mannerisms weren't like her usual self, or at least not the Korra he knew. He sensed that something was wrong. He sat down next to her. "Korra, what's wrong." He asked concerned.

"Nothing." She replied fast, obviously lying. She didn't want to talk about her problems, especially not with Mako.

"Korra, I can tell you're upset. Just tell me."

She looked away from him. "I'm fine."

"Korra, I'm here for you." He put his arm around her back. She winced in pain the moment his arm came in contact with her backside. "Korra, what's-" He looked at her back. He could see the dried blood on her shirt. "Korra, why is your back covered in blood?" She didn't answer; she just lowered her head. He lifted up her originally turquoise shirt to show that her back was almost entirely red and covered in half opened scabs. His eyes widened at the horrific sight. For a moment, rage set in him. He lowered her shirt and moved in front of her so that he could look directly at her. He picked up her head so he could look her in the eye. "Korra, what happened? Who did this to you?"

"An equalist guard at the factory. I stuck up for this woman who also worked there and they beat me for it." She couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She started crying, and then collapsed into Mako's arms with her head on his chest. "I just- they were going to kill her. I couldn't watch them do that. I couldn't let them do that to her, or anybody." She let out between the sobs. She was bawling.

Mako held her with his arms wrapped around her head. He closed his eyes and rested his head on hers. "Shush, shush. It's okay. It's okay. You're safe for now. I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you while I'm here."

Their door opened slightly. Mako looked up. Korra, without interruption, continued to cry in his arms. A tray with two bowls of soup and two glasses of water were slid into their cell. "Dinner." A guard announced before locking the door again. Mako stood up and walked over to the tray. Korra sat up and looked at him. She momentarily stopped crying. Mako grabbed a cup of the water and placed it beside Korra. He then took off his jacket to reveal his white undershirt. He ripped the bottom part of his sleeve off.

"Take off your shirt." He told her. She obeyed. He sat down behind her and drenched the fabric from his shirt in the water.

"What are you-" She asked.

"We need to clean your cuts so this doesn't get infected. This might sting at first." He warned her.

He put the wet fabric to her back. She took in a short fast breath from the pain, but shortly after the water on her back felt southing. Mako wiped away the dry blood from her skin. The cool water sent shivers down her spine but also helped alleviate the pain.

She lowered her head. "Mako, I'm sorry."

"What? Why are you sorry to me?" He said as he continued to wipe down her back.

"I broke my promise to you. I told you that I wasn't going to fight against any equalists, but I did,"

"That's okay, Korra. At least you're safe now. And you also fought for what you thought was right. You fought for what you believed in. sometimes you just can't let these people boss you around."

They were silent for a moment. "I also forgot to thank you for sticking up to me this morning."

"Oh, it was nothing."

"No, it wasn't nothing. Now I know, you could have gotten in a lot of trouble for that. You risked your safety for mine, so thank you."

He finished cleaning her back. His hands lingered on her dark skin for a moment. He grabbed his jacket and gave it to her. "Here, you can wear my jacket. You can't walk around all day with dry blood on your back. Keep it until tomorrow when they let us wash up."

Korra looked at him. "What about you? You're going to freeze in here without your jacket."

"It's okay, I've got my undershirt."

"Fine, but in that case you should take back your scarf. I don't want you to get too cold."

"Okay," He grabbed the scarf and put it on. "Come on, let's eat." He pulled over the tray of food. Korra quickly ate her soup, she was starving. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the piece of bread he had saved. He handed it to her. "Here," She looked at him with a confused grin. "I saved it for you from lunch when you didn't show up. You must be really hungry."

She nodded and took the bread and smiled at him. "Thank you."

When they finished their dinner, Mako laid beside her. They both laid on their side looking at each other. He smiled at her then brushed the hair away from her face. She smiled back at him.

"You know, I'm going to get you out of here."

"What, how?" She questioned surprised.

"It doesn't matter how. I'm just not letting you stay here. I'm not leaving you."

Korra moved closer to Mako. She curled up beside his chest and closed her eyes.

Mako lightly blushed. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm keeping you warm."

Mako smiled. He wrapped his arm lightly around her neck and pulled her closer to him. He closed his eyes and they both fell asleep.

* * *

_A/N: okay so school is starting soon and i have summer work that i have to get done (procrastination) which is why it took me a few days to update and most likely that is going to happen again. So bare with me, i'll try to get these updates out as soon as i can. :)_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Okay so instead of doing my summer work i wrote a chapter. Gah. i need to focus. But whatever, here. This is a short chapter (sorry) but i'll tell you this: next chapter is kind of intense. This chapter is just fluff but whatever. _

* * *

Mako awoke a few minutes before the morning alarm. Korra was still fast asleep and wrapped in his arms. He looked down at her. Her head was nuzzled in his chest and she had a smile on her face. Mako moved his arm, avoiding her back, and gently caressed the side of her face. His movements were minimal so not to wake her up. His thumb moved up and down rubbing her cheek. He looked at her. The way she looked when she slept was so peaceful. She almost made him forget the awful situation they were in. She was content wearing his jacket. Even though it was too big for her, he liked the way his jacket looked on her.

As much as Mako didn't want to admit it, not only to himself but to the others, he really did like Korra. He tried to convince himself that he didn't have these feelings for her but the immensity of his desire for her was too strong. He tried to fight his feelings, but that proved useless. He liked Korra, he couldn't deny that. Every time he looked at her, he wanted to hold her in his arms and feel her cold lips upon his. She came into his life all of a sudden like a wrecking ball; breaking and shattering the walls he had built up around himself, but also creating room inside of his heart so that he could allow himself to love another. In the short time they knew each other he fell head over heels for her.

He wished that he could stay in that moment with her forever, holding her in his arms, keeping her close, and keeping her safe. The morning bell rang. Korra slightly moved her head as she woke up. Her eyes opened. She looked at Mako with a smile. He quickly moved his hand away from her face in fright.

"Hey, cool guy." She said warmly as she woke up. She was surprisingly happy that morning, especially since she normally hated mornings.

"Hey," he replied tenderly. "Good morning."

"Good morning. Did you just wake up?"

Mako lightly blushed. He couldn't lie to her. "Um, no. I- uh- I've been awake for a few minutes. I didn't want to wake you up."

"Oh, okay." She said before moving closer to Mako and holding him tighter. She smiled.

"So, did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I surprisingly did. Did you?"

"Never better." He told her with a grin on his face. Her cheeks turned pink. "Is your back feeling a little better?"

She thought to herself for a moment and then touched her back with her left arm. She closed her eyes and took in a short breath from the pain. Mako could see she was in pain; he dearly wanted to help her however he could. After the pain left her back, she shot a smile at him. "It doesn't sting anymore. I mean, when I touch it, it still hurts but otherwise, yeah it does feel a little bit better." She moved up closer to him so that their eyes met. "Thank you, Mako."

"For what?"

"For everything. I bet I would have been dead by now if it wasn't for you."

Mako looked into her bright blue eyes. Her eyes reminded him of the ocean that he could just drown in if he looked at them for too long. Her eyes were not the typical color for a firebender but, none the less, he thought they were beautiful. Mako could no longer fight the urge to keep his hands off of her. He moved his hand back to her cheek. She smiled and blushed at his touch.

"Korra, I would do anything to keep you safe." She couldn't hide that her cheeks turned a dark red.

They both looked into each other's eyes. Subconsciously, they moved their heads closer. Neither of them fought against it. As their heads moved closer to each other, their eyes started to close. Their lips were almost touching when their door opened. Korra immediately sat up in fright. It took Mako a minute to sit up; he was still caught up in what had almost happened. Korra quickly grabbed her shirt from off the floor and put it in Mako's jacket so she could wash it later.

A woman equalist was at the door. Mako knew it was Asami but Korra didn't. He let out a breath of relief; Korra was still stiff from fear. Mako could tell that Asami was smirking at him from under her mask; she knew what almost happened. Asami moved to Korra. She knelt down next to her to handcuff Korra. She could see the evident fear in Korra's eyes.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you." Asami said in a soft reassuring tone. Korra relaxed her body a bit. Asami handcuffed her then moved over to Mako. "Hey, maybe I should've waited a minute or two to come and get you." She whispered to Mako as she handcuffed him.

He sarcastically laughed. "Shut up." He paused. "And thank you for coming this morning. I didn't want Korra to go through the same thing that happened yesterday morning." he whispered back.

"Any time." She handcuffed him then picked him up and walked over to pick up Korra. She brought them in line for roll call. They stood next to each other again.

"See you in lunch?" Mako asked Korra hopefully.

She smiled at him. "This time I promise. Yes."

Then they walked away. Korra's line walked back to the hot engine room in the factory. The woman whom she had stuck up for yesterday was there too. She looked healthier and the way she held herself as she walked made her seem slightly stronger. She walked to her work position next to Korra and smiled at her.

"Thank you." She genuinely said. "You saved my life and I was also able to eat my first full meal in awhile."

"You're welcome." Korra told as she shot her a half smile her before returning to work.


	6. Chapter 6

A few days had passed. Korra was getting used to life on the camp. She didn't anger any guards causing her to be punished, and she did what she was told to do like any other prisoner. Even though she was getting accustomed to this life, Korra was still emotionally and physically exhausted from the long hours of demanding labor. She took comfort in Mako during the times they were together.

She and Mako would talk with each other until the late of night when they were so exhausted that their eyes just couldn't stay open. They talked about many things, including their hopes for the future. They hoped that one day benders would be free of this tyrannical rule and imagined a life where their people were not prosecuted. Both fully wished for a world of peace between all people, but deep down they knew that reality would never come. When they finally were falling asleep, they would hold each other in their arms like they had their second night together.

After her first six hours of work that day, Korra was brought to the lunch area. The lunch area was outside with the middle section under a large makeshift canopy with a dirt ground. All the prisoners of the camp of over a thousand people were there, unless they were denied food as punishment. The area was secluded by an electric fence with equalist guards surrounding and watching the area. Bending was prohibited in the lunch area.

Korra walked to one of the many lunch lines. The line was long, so she had to wait. They gave her a small bowl and she walked up to an old, grumpy, glutinous man who was serving their meal. He glared at every bender who came up to him for food. He shot Korra an angry grin as he gave her one ladle full of soup. She quietly took it and walked away so not to anger him more. She grabbed a glass of water and a small piece of bread.

She looked around for Mako in the sea of people. After a moment, she pinpointed where he was. She walked over to the old wooden bench and table he was sitting at. He was sitting next to his brother Bolin, whom she had met and shortly after became friends with. When Mako noticed Korra coming towards them he smiled at her and waved her over. She placed her food down on the table and sat down across from them.

"Hey, Korra." Mako said with a smile. Even though he knew she was doing her best to not get in trouble, still every time he saw her at lunch or in their cell he became happier and relieved. Knowing she was safe with him eased his worries for the time being.

"Hi, you two." She said to both Mako and Bolin. Bolin smiled and waved to her as he scoffed down his food.

"So Korra, how was your day so far?" Mako asked.

She took a momentarily break from eating her lunch. "Oh, you know same as usual. Still tiring and too much work for the amount of food they give us. I mean seriously, I ate better when I was living on the streets and I had to find my own food then. I barely have enough energy to walk back to the factory let alone work for another eight hours." She complained.

"Do you want my piece of bread?" Mako asked with concern.

She smiled and lightly laughed. "No, but thank you. I'm just complaining. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. You need the bread and energy too. So, what about you?"

"Huh, what?"

"What about you? How was your day?" She asked again to Mako.

"Oh, the same as you; same old, same old." Mako then looked at his brother who was now spewing pieces of food around himself as he ate ferociously. "Bro," Mako said to Bolin with a look of disapproval.

Bolin looked up at his brother, taking a break from scarfing down his food. "What? I'm a growing boy."

"Yeah exactly, you're a growing boy not Bull Pig, so don't act like one." Mako reprimanded. Bolin replied with scrunching his face at Mako.

Korra watched the brothers banter. She oddly found their teasing with each other amusing. She covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

While the three were talking together an equalist guard was walking past their table. As he walked, he mindlessly moved a little too close to their table and tripped on the edge of the bench Korra was sitting on. He tumbled onto the ground, covering himself in mud. He was completely humiliated. Out of complete anger and embarrassment, he looked up at Korra with an angry scowl on his face. Korra looked down at the man speechless and full of fright.

The guard stood up and brushed off some of the dirt off of his clothes; he then looked down at Korra. He leaned down towards her, invading her personal space. Korra wanted to move back on her seat but she was immobile from shock. To rid himself of the humiliation he was feeling, he took the incident out on Korra.

"You insolent little bitch, how dare you trip me. Are you trying to assault your superiors?" Korra recognized the man's voice as the same man who beat her a week prior. Luckily he didn't remember what type of bender she was, he just remembered the incident they had with each other. Korra didn't know how to respond, she was caught speechless as the guard yelled at her.

Mako and Bolin both watched with wide eyes. Bolin was stunned while Mako tightened his fists so that he wouldn't explode and firebend at the guard. Mako looked at Korra; she was staring directly at the guard with evident fear in her eyes. He couldn't stand to see Korra like that. Mako stood up. He couldn't take it anymore. "Leave her alone and leave us!" Both the guard and Korra quickly turned their heads towards Mako.

"What did you just say?" The guard seethed out as he glared at Mako.

Mako didn't look away from the guard's stare. He held his stance and never averting his eyes. "Oh, you heard what I said. I _said _leave her alone! She did nothing wrong. You and I both know that she did not trip you. You fucking tripped on the bench. So don't try to blame Korra for your fucking clumsiness." Mako was fuming; he was surprised that fire wasn't erupting from his hands.

The guard walked closer to Mako. Mako stood still stubbornly in his position. The guard cracked his knuckles as he moved closer. "Oh, I oughta-"

"You oughta what? Beat me up? Fine, beat me up, kick the crap out of me, as long as you do not touch even one hair on that girl!"

"Mako, no." Korra told him in an unsettled tone.

Mako quickly looked at Korra. "Korra, I know what I am doing."

The equalist broke his stare from Mako and looked at Korra. She was staring directly into Mako's eyes with worry. He looked back at Mako to see that he too was staring back at the girl with the same concern shown from his eyes. The guard grinned under his mask.

"I see how it is." The equalist inquired. Mako quickly looked at the man. "You love her. You are deeply in love with this girl and you would even go as far as to sacrifice yourself for her own safety." He slowly walked backwards towards Korra, still keeping his stare with Mako. "I bet you think that you two are fated to be together since fate, oh so delightfully, brought you two together in the harshest of conditions. You probably think your love is written in the stars and that very well might be true but you are forgetting one small thing. One can always change their fate."

The equalist quickly grabbed Korra by her neck. His grip around her neck tightened as he raised her up from out of her seat. He held on tight, closing her throat and keeping oxygen out of her lungs. Due to the lack of oxygen she was receiving, she would not be able to produce even a puff of fire to save herself. She chocked as she tried to gasp for air. Asami watched the incident. She was a few feet away from them. She didn't want to blow her cover but she felt that she needed to do something. She started to walk over, hoping that she could talk the other guard to stop.

Mako was about to explode. Bolin could see that fury and rage building up in Mako. He stood up to keep Mako from making a huge mistake but Bolin realized that there was nothing he could do to convince Mako. Flames ruptured from Mako's fists. He was just about to send a fire ball at the equalist when Korra acted first. She couldn't give up without a fight. She tried to use all the energy she had left in her oxygen deprived body to bend fire at the man. She moved her hand in the shape of a fist back. She had hoped that she would be able to punch a fire ball at him and if not she could settle for just a simple punch to the nose.

She moved her hand in the punching motion, although instead of fire coming out of her hands she instinctively conjured the water out of their cups and sharply darted it at the man. The water struck the equalist in the head, causing him to let go of Korra and move back a few steps to catch his balance. Korra immediately fell to the ground as she gasped quickly for air. Mako, Bolin, and Asami stood still, wide eyed and taken aback. The flames receded from Mako's fists. They shortly after realized what had just happened and what they needed to do. Asami quickly ran over.

"It seems like some people don't know the rules and that bending is prohibited." Asami insinuated as she looked down at Korra. She then looked at the equalist. "Go to the infirmary and fix yourself. I'll take care of these bending filth."

"But-" The equalist injected. He wanted to be the one to punish these people.

"That's an order!" Asami commanded. The other equalist obeyed and scoffed off out of the lunch area. Asami grabbed Korra by the collar of her shirt, and bringing her up. She then grabbed Bolin and Mako and pushed them out of the lunch area.

"No, don't take Mako and Bolin. They didn't do anything wrong. They didn't bend at the guard." Korra pleaded.

"Well, I distinctly remember seeing fire coming out of the boy with the red scarf's hands when you were caught in that guard's grip. I'm surprised that he didn't explode." She grinned.

Korra looked at Mako. "Really?" He lightly nodded. She smiled then turned back so she was facing straight. "But still, this was my entire fault. Don't punish them."

"Calm down Korra, she's with us." Mako told her.

"What?" Korra said as she quickly turned at Mako.

"Yeah, this is Asami. She is part of our group." Bolin added.

"Hi." Asami let out in a cheerful tone.

Korra was clearly perplexed. "Wait, what group? Huh, what? I'm confused. What is going on?"

"We're getting out of here. I told you that I'll get you out of here."Mako told Korra.

"Wait, but how? Isn't it impossible to escape from this place?"

"Not impossible, just extremely hard, but don't worry you'll see." Bolin insinuated.

They continued walking at a fast pace. When they were out of any equalists' views Asami let go of them and Mako bend down and picked up Korra. He continued to walk with her in his arms.

"What are you doing?" Korra asked.

"You're weak. I'm carrying you."

Korra didn't protest. They walked towards the back of a building right by the fence of the camp. It was the only place where equalist scouts couldn't see them. Bolin hit the ground with his foot and sent the four of them underground with a tiny air hole above them. It was dark for a moment until Mako lit a small flame in one of his hands. Mako was still holing Korra even though he was also lighting their way. They walked as Bolin bent their small area underground forward. They stood underground walking for about twenty minutes until Bolin sensed the ground and hit the floor with his foot again brining them up to the surface. They were in a deserted meadow far away from any civilization and any people.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: sorry for the long wait. school started last week and i am already busy. ugh. so just don't expect updates to be as frequent as they were in the summer. i'll try to update when i can. _

* * *

Korra looked around at her surroundings. There was no human or building in sight. This was foreign to Korra, since she had grown up in the urban lifestyle of Republic City her whole life. Korra liked the wide open space and the fresh air, it helped relieve her and distract her from the situation at hand. She enjoyed not having to deal with others besides the people who she trusts, even Asami whom she had thought she just met.

After a moment Bolin began to speak again. "There is a cave about a mile away. We can stay there for the night to sleep before we head out in the morning." He started to walk in that direction. The group followed.

Mako walked a few paces in front of Korra. He was different, he seemed distant. He hadn't talked to Korra since they were at the camp; he hadn't even said anything to her while he carried her. She feared something might have been wrong. She walked with a faster pace to catch up to him. She placed her arm on his shoulder to get his attention.

"Mako, is anything wrong. Why did we have to so hastily leave the camp? I mean, I at least thought there would be planning involved when it came to leaving the camp."

A moment later Mako let out a long breath. His voice was low and he hesitated in his words. "You know what happened. You bent at the guard, and because of that they were probably going to kill you. We had to get out of there as fast as we could." He lied. He tried not to show emotion.

"But I was doing it to save my life." She pleaded.

"To them, that doesn't matter. No matter what, it is not justified to bend at a guard; I thought you knew that. And plus, if you died right there no equalist would've cared, that just means one less prisoner that they have to work to death." He told her coldly.

She shot him an angry look. "So you're blaming me for bending at the guy to save my life?" She questioned.

He looked at her but quickly looked away. "No, I just said that the equalists wouldn't have cared if your life was in danger or not, you still bent at them."

She calmed down. She paused for a minute. "Speaking of bending, I don't know if you noticed but when I hit that guard I don't think I hit him with fire. I could have sworn that I hit him with the water from our cups. Is that true? Mako, why was I able to do that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, and anyway I wouldn't know how you did it even if I did know what you were talking about. That doesn't matter. Stop asking questions and stop worrying about the camp. That is in our past now, okay? I would really rather not have to remember that place. We are out of there, so let's not worry or talk about it anymore." He said quickly before walking faster and moving away from Korra. He was terrible at changing the topic of the conversation. Korra silently followed behind him a few steps away.

Mako held his head low during the walk to the cave. He didn't like how he had to lie to Korra about whom she really was, he feared that she might freak out and run away like her predecessor did when he was a child. He was going to wait until they arrived at the Resistance's compound for Lin Beifong and Tenzin to tell her. Although, most of all, he hated that he had to lie to himself. He previously thought back at the camp that he would be able to finally tell Korra about his feelings, but with this new information about her he felt that he could never tell Korra how he felt about her. He felt that he needed to hold back his feelings. Just talking to Korra hurt him, that's why he had stormed off.

They arrived at the cave. The four of them stood at the mouth of the cave and looked in. The cave was small and the only light was the small amount of sunlight that was let in. Mako lit a fireball in his hand to show the interior of the cave.

"That's it?" Asami said calmly, in a low tone meant only for her to hear. However, the group heard Asami and stared at her for a moment. "What? Despite my father's deeds, he certainly made sure I was always living in the finest living conditions. This is just new for me. I'll get used to it."

The group stared at her for a moment in silence until Bolin spoke up to her. "Don't worry; I'll earthbend rooms for us to sleep in." He hit the ground with his foot, and subtly moved it forward as he simultaneously punched the air. An opening in the wall appeared before their eyes. "I can't give you doors for these rooms but we are only going to be here for the night, so it shouldn't matter." Bolin turned to Mako who was beside him. "I can make four rooms, one for each of us, or I can make three just in case you and Korra want to sleep-" His joke to Mako was cut off.

"Four. Make four rooms." Mako demanded. Bolin backed away and commenced to make the remaining three rooms in the cave walls.

After the rooms were made, Bolin turned to the group. "We need sticks and wood for the fire, who wants to go?"

"I'll go." Korra volunteered.

"No, Bolin and I will go." Mako dictated.

"But I-" Korra tried to plea as she saw Mako turn Bolin and guide him out of the cave into the growing darkness of the night.

Korra sat down on the ground, leaning her back on the wall, with her legs bent up and wrapped in her arms. She was on the verge of crying but she held back her tears. Asami could see the distress in Korra's eyes and sat down beside her. Korra lit a ball of fire in her hand for light; it had less ferocity than Mako's ball of fire, however Korra was never properly trained yet.

"Hey, is everything all right?" Asami compassionately asked.

"Yeah, great." Korra lied. "But, have you noticed Mako acting weirder to you recently?"

Asami thought to herself. "Um, no. Not really. Why, what have you noticed?"

"Well, I don't know, he just seems different. Like, he seems colder towards me. He really isn't talking to me, I mean we used to talk all the time, and I really haven't seen a smile on his face since we left the camp which is ironic because you'd think that would be opposite."

Asami easily figured out what was wrong with Mako. She had known Mako for a few years now and she could easily read him like a book. He was heartbroken. Even though liking someone was abnormal for Mako for as long as Asami knew him, she could easily tell when he was hurt. He was her friend, so she wasn't going to tell the girl whom he was heartbroken over about this, so she had to lie. "Korra, that's just how he gets sometimes. He just gets really serious and distances himself from others. This won't last long; he just does this when there is something important for him to get done. Trust me, soon enough he will be the same Mako you knew."

"Are you sure?" Asami nodded. "Okay, thank you." Korra paused for a moment. "So, um, who's your father, if you don't mind telling me?"

"My father is Hiroshi Sato."

"You mean the satomobile creator?"

"Yeah, and one of the notorious equalist leaders."

"Your father is an equalist? But I thought you were helping _us_?" Korra asked surprised.

"No, no it's not like that. My father is an equalist, has been since my mother's death when a street urchin mugged her and resorted to use their firebending on her. He even makes the weapons for them. When I turned fourteen, my father told me about the equalists and that he was one of them. I didn't really know what to think of that at the time. So he signed me up in the equalists a year later. I was assigned to work in one of the working camps, not the same one you were in though. When working there, I finally learned what a bender was, just a normal person with abnormal talents. I saw how these benders were treated and I couldn't stand it. I quickly came to realize that President Amon is not only oppressing benders, but he is also oppressing non benders. By hiding our past, brainwashing us, keeping a part of our culture away from us, and holding knowledge away from us. Bending is a part of non benders' history just as much as non benders are an important part of benders' history. That is because our history is one and the same. One day I found out about the resistance by a few loose mouth benders and I was intrigued. I felt I needed to fight back against this tyranny. I looked for the resistance and eventually found them and told them I wished to join. At first I wasn't allowed due to lack of trust, my family and my past, although I quickly proved myself to Lin Beifong, the chief, and was able to join. I now spy on the equalists for the resistance, which is why I was hidden as an equalist at the camp."

"Wow, truthfully I judged you wrong. I'm sorry. So does your father know that you are against the equalists?"

"No, he doesn't. I needed him to not know so I could stay in the equalists for spying purposes. I wasn't planning on telling him, but I think he is going to find out when he realizes that I basically deserted the equalist army. I do love my father; I just don't support or agree with his beliefs."

"Oh, I see." Korra yawned. "I think I am going to go to sleep early tonight. I'm really tired." Asami lightly nodded. Korra stood up and walked to her room. "Thanks for the talk." Korra told Asami before walking into her room.

"Any time." Asami smiled and called back to her.

* * *

Mako and Bolin were collecting sticks for their fire to warm the cave that night. They were silent. Mako hadn't said a word to Bolin, so in effect Bolin was silent too. They continued to collect wood but Bolin needed to get something off of his chest.

"Mako, what's up with you? Why are you acting so weird, especially to Korra?"

Mako didn't look at him. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Well, you hardly have said two words to the girl since we left the camp, you seem more angry and you're definitely hiding something. So what's wrong, big bro?"

"Nothing I told you."

"Mako!"

Mako groaned then looked Bolin directly in the eyes. "Fine, if you really want to know, it's because she's the avatar. I mean I really should have realized that. No firebender has dark brown skin and bright blue eyes. Those traits are reserved for those of water tribe resemblance." He yelled.

"What does being the avatar have to do with anything?"

"Since she's the avatar I can't lo- I can't love her anymore."

"Just because she's the avatar- wait did you just say love?" Bolin asked with wide eyes.

Mako blushed and tried to hide it. He turned away. "Yeah Bo, I think I love her."

Bolin put his hand on Mako's shoulder and turned him around. "Then why does being the avatar change anything?"

"Because since she is the avatar, she has a duty to this world to achieve and keep the peace. She has an obligation to take down Amon and save the world. She isn't going to have the time or even want to have a boyfriend. And plus, now she is Amon's number one most wanted 'criminal' in the world. She could die any day and I really don't want to be there to see that, I wouldn't be able to handle it."

"First, if she loves you, she will make time for you and definitely want you. And second, since you say she is Amon's most wanted, wouldn't you want to help protect her so she is less likely to die. Korra is not trained, if Amon were to attack her now at the state she is in, she would definitely lose. You need to protect her so she doesn't die. If she never dies you won't have to deal with losing her."

"I guess, but no avatar is going to want or love an idiot like me. I think we have enough wood." Mako told Bolin before he walked away back to their cave.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Another fluffy chapter :). oops, i Bosami'd.. and the long awaited Makorra stuff but yeah. _

* * *

Mako walked into the cave carrying a bushel of sticks with Bolin following shortly behind. He saw Asami sitting down on the ground against the wall of the cave but to his surprise he didn't see Korra. He knew she was safe here but for some odd reason, Mako felt the same feeling he had when Korra wasn't with him back at the camp. Mako couldn't explain that feeling. That feeling was a mixture of worry for Korra and the fact that he missed her desperately. Mako felt ashamed of himself that he couldn't even stay away from her for a half an hour without missing her. He needed to shake both this feeling and Korra out of his mind.

"Asami, where's Korra?" He asked, trying to hide the concern in his tone of voice.

Asami looked at him and smiled. "Calm down lover boy, she was tired so she went to sleep early. She's in her room."

Mako blushed. "I'm no lover boy." He said flustered.

Bolin looked at him and smirked. "Really?" He said sarcastically, knowing Mako was clearly hiding the truth.

The two teenagers were grinning at Mako. They could see right through Mako's façade that he put up both for others to not know the truth and more importantly for himself. Mako glared at them. He was defenseless. "Oh, shut up, you two." Asami and Bolin laughed. Mako walked into the cave and placed the sticks down in a pile and bent fire at it. The fire started to burn the wood and lit the cave. "Okay, now we have warmth and light for the night without me constantly having to bend fire in my hands. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go to bed early too. See ya in the morning." He walked into his room leaving the other two. Asami moved towards the fire to warm herself.

Bolin sat down by the fire next to Asami. "So Asami, I guess it's just you and me, all alone. You and me… alone… together… alone together." Bolin let out in a suave tone.

"Yeah, I guess we are alone." She replied back. She was staring at the fire.

"So, Asami-"

"Bolin," She cut him off. She looked at him. Worry was shown from her voice and fear was shown from her eyes.

"Yeah Asami, what is it?" He asked with concern.

"Everything is going to change now, isn't it?"

Bolin put his arm around her to comfort her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, for years we have been looking for the avatar to stop Amon and while looking for her we- the resistance haven't done much to stop him. Yes, we have been in little fights against the equalists here and there but now that we have the avatar full out war is going to break out. We now have the secret weapon chief Beifong has been waiting for. Once Korra is trained she has a duty to stop Amon and it's not like we aren't going to help her, we are, and Amon is definitely going to fight back with big numbers. We've gone thought war against Amon before and look what that brought us. I just-"

"You're scared."

She lowered her head. "Yeah, I am, but also, what if I have to fight my father? I don't know if I can do that."

Bolin lifted Asami's head so that he could look her directly in the eyes. "Asami, you have nothing to worry about. Yes, things will change and I'm hoping for the better, but you have no reason to be scared because I will always be there right beside you. Okay? Even though you don't need the protection, I will be there to protect you. And about your father, how could he hurt his daughter, he loves you. How could he not love you? You're amazing. Maybe he will see the light of his ways and join you, and if not, like I said I will be right there helping you along."

Asami smiled and pulled him into a hug. She blushed. Bolin smiled because of her touch. "Thank you, Bolin. You are a great friend."

"Yeah, friend." He said in a defeated tone to himself.

Asami pulled away. She still had the smile on his face. "What did you say?"

"Oh, um, nothing, just you're welcome." He let out a guilty smile.

"Oh, okay." She hugged him again.

* * *

It was dark. Everyone was asleep, besides Mako. Mako laid on the stone platform Bolin made and called a bed, as he watched the fire outside burn itself out. He couldn't sleep. After months of hard and tiring work Mako thought he would be exhausted but he wasn't, he was actually restless. He tried closing his eyes but every time he did his mind wandered towards Korra. He tried to get her out of his head by thinking of something else, anything else, but that didn't work. Finally he just let his defenses down. The fight to keep her out of his mind was just too hard. He gave in to his desires. The more he thought about Korra, the easier it was for him to fall asleep. He started to dream about her.

He saw Korra in a dark room. She was smiling at him. Mako walked closer to her. She held out her arms for him. As he got closer to her, he put his hand on her cheek, caressing her. He looked at her bright blue eyes, as he touched her face her eyes turned from a bright blue to a dark grey. Mako moved his head closer to hers and she moved her head closer to him. Mako hadn't noticed but, the closer he got to Korra the more of her colors was lost. Her whole body was turning grey almost completely. Mako's eyes started to close as he moved in to kiss her. His eyes were completely shut when he got to the point where he figured that their lips would have been touching but he felt nothing. He quickly opened his eyes to see that Korra was gone, she wasn't there. He looked around the dark room but he couldn't see her. "Korra!" He called out to her. He got no response. Mako lit a ball of fire in his hand in hopes that he could see past this darkness. The light from the fire didn't help, all he could see was darkness. Black everywhere he could see. He walked forward, hoping to find Korra, but as he walked in the infinite room of darkness all he saw was just that, darkness. Mako called out to Korra one more time and this time he heard a noise to his right. It must have been Korra. He turned and ran in the direction of the noise until he saw a small clearing in the darkness. He saw Korra, now frowning, almost in tears. He walked closer to her to see a figure of a man behind her. He saw the man's white mask with a red dot peek through the darkness. The man was holding onto Korra. Mako growled in anger, it was Amon. Mako needed to get Korra out of there, but he was too late. Amon let go of Korra and let her collapse onto the floor. Mako saw a silver dagger penetrating into her back with a circle of blood surrounding it. Mako couldn't believe what he saw. He was too much in shock to feel anything. He was numb. The man in the mask disappeared into the darkness. Mako knelt down by Korra's head. He was crying. He was too late to save her he couldn't do anything, she was dead.

Mako awoke from his slumber with a scream. His face and body was covered in warm sweat. He was breathing heavily. Mako looked around. He was back in his room in the cave. Mako rested his head in the palms of his hands. His breathing started to calm down. "It was just a dream, Mako" He told himself. "No more than a nightmare. Calm down." But he couldn't calm down, not until he knew she was safe. Mako got off of his makeshift bed and walked quietly to the room next to his. No one had woken up because of his scream and he wanted to keep it that way. Mako stood in her doorway, He saw her sleeping peacefully. She was fine. Mako was now fulfilled and knew she was safe, so if he wanted to he could have turned away and went back to sleep, but he didn't want to. Instead of going back to his room, Mako walked right into Korra's room. He knelt down beside her rock bed by her head. Mako moved his hand towards her face, he was reluctant at first to touch her in fear that she might disappear like in his dream, but he put aside his fears. His hand caressed her cold cheek. He missed feeling her skin touch his. He lit a fire in his other hand to he could see her.

"Hi, Korra." He said in a low tone so that he wouldn't wake her up. "It's me, Mako. I just came to visit for a moment. Sorry, I just had to see you. I had to see you because I had this nightmare that you disappeared and then were killed by Amon. I just had to make sure that it was definitely a dream, I mean because if it wasn't I probably would go crazy. I just never want to lose you, even in a dream. And I'm sorry but, truthfully that's why I was being so distant towards you. Since we escaped the camp, things are going to be so much different now. We're now wanted criminals, more so than you think. Any day one of us could be killed and I never want to see that happening to you. I would probably die right there beside you emotionally if not physically. I've lost a lot of people in my life, my parents as an example and I don't know what I would do if I lost someone now that I truly cared about. That's why I've never loved a person- that is before you. I wasn't planning on loving you but you just came into my life like a wrecking ball. You see, the only person who I was really close with before you was my brother Bolin, but he's my brother so no matter what I have no choice but to stay with him. I at least have a choice with everyone else. That's why I distanced myself away from you. I thought since I don't want to lose you, if I distance myself from you at least losing you would be on my terms and be less emotionally tolling. But tonight, I realized, I have no choice as to whether or not you make an impact on my life, you already have, and that impact is too big on my heart to just erase away. I'm trying my best to let you go, you don't want someone like me, but it's hard. I just can't shake you out of my head."

Mako looked at her. She was peacefully sleeping. She had a light smile on her face. Mako couldn't deny that she was beautiful. His temptation was too much for him to fight. His head moved closer to hers until his lips touch her cold lips. His eyes were closed and he could almost swear as he kissed her she was kissing back but he believed that all to be in his head. He liked the taste of her lips, the taste felt almost like ecstasy. Mako didn't want to but he pulled away. His thumb rubbed against her cheek, almost touching her lips. He stood up and kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight, Korra." He tenderly told her before he turned around towards the doorway. He started to walk away.

"Goodnight, Mako." Korra told him. He stopped in his tracks, unmoved and didn't turn away to look at her. His eyes widened from shock but also to his surprise his cheeks turned a light pink shade. After a moment, without a word of reply he walked out of her room and back into his room. Korra laid there, smiling and blushing. She heard every word of what Mako had said.


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: I am SO SO SO SO sorry for taking basically two weeks to update. i was not planning on that. it's just school and work have been basically taking up all of my time and free time to do anything else. I am really sorry. i promise (well i'll try to promise) that the next update will NOT take as long as this one did. actually next chapter was supposed to be in this chapter but like i said i hardly had time to write this. I wanted to add more but you'll see that next chapter. Again, I am so sorry. **_

* * *

As Korra awoke the next morning she heard a familiar voice calling her name.

"Korra. Korra." The voice called out. She slowly opened her eyes, still incoherent to the world around her.

"Mako?" Korra mumbled as she awoke.

The voice laughed to himself for a moment. "No, Korra, it's me. We are leaving now." Korra looked up at the source of the voice. She rubbed her eyes and focused on the boy. She noticed him to be Bolin.

She blushed with embarrassment when she realized what she had said. "Oh, uh, ha, sorry about that. I just really hate mornings."

Bolin smiled at the girl he was standing over. "Don't worry about it. We are brothers, we do have some similarities. Plus, I mean this is the first night you two did not spend together in the same room for a few weeks, so I guess it's just habit by now." He assured her with a friendly tone.

"Yeah, I guess you could say this is the first night we were apart." She said to herself guiltily. She sat up on her rock platform bed. She wasn't sure if she could truthfully say that last night was her first night away from Mako, but she went along with it. "Speaking of which, where is Mako?" She asked Bolin.

"Oh, I let him sleep in, which is weird because he is usually the one to wake me up, but he seemed so contently asleep that I couldn't wake him up yet. I'm going to wake him up in a minute, though, and then we are on our way."

"On our way to where?" Korra innocently asked Bolin.

"Oh you'll see. Just get up and meet Asami and I outside so we can start heading out." Bolin smiled at her then turned around and walked out of the room.

* * *

Not long after, the group of teenagers continued on their trek. Both Korra and Mako remained silent for the entirety of the trip. Korra didn't know what to say to Mako, she never had to deal with boys and relationships before, and Mako couldn't coherently get a word out to Korra because of the kiss that had happened between them the night before. Mako hadn't planned for Korra to have been awake and kiss him back; in fact he had never even planned to kiss her at all. Mako truthfully didn't know how to react to this. He wasn't sure if he should be excited because the girl he loved liked him back, or scared because _the girl he loved_ _liked him back_.

Mako wasn't even totally sure that Korra did in fact like him back. For all Mako knew, Korra could have been caught up in the kiss. She could have just simply kissed him back for the sake of kissing him back. Maybe Korra did not want to hurt him. Mako grew paranoid. However, Korra didn't seem repulsed. She actually seemed happy. But could she have just been acting nice? Mako had no idea how to read a girl, let alone read Korra.

As they were walking Mako intently stared at Korra when she wasn't looking so that he could try to figure out what she was feeling. He deducted nothing. Korra's expression was flat and laid back, but the sides of her lips were slightly curved up for the elation she was trying to hide but was feeling inside. Occasionally, Korra would turn back at Mako and catch him staring at her; mostly because she wanted to see him. Every time she would catch him staring at her he would blush and awkwardly smile at her and to his delight she would genuinely smile back.

About midway through the day Korra was growing tired. She trailed off a little behind the group. They were currently up a mountain in a huge mountain range because it would take too long to travel around the mountains. Korra was walking, but had zoned out and was not looking where she was walking, when she tripped and fell on bunch of rocks. She slid down on the trail a few feet.

"Ah, fuck!" She yelled as she tumbled down.

Mako turned around and saw Korra on the ground. She was getting up, but Mako ran over to help her. Asami and Bolin were too far ahead of them to notice.

"Korra, are you okay?" Mako asked worried. He sat down on the ground next to her.

Korra smiled at him. "Yeah, I am fine."

"Are you sure?"

She placed her hand on his. "Yes Mako, I'm fine. I just tripped. It's nothing."

Mako calmed down a bit. "Okay, fine." He let out. Mako stood up over Korra and let out his hand. "Grab my hand."

Korra grabbed his hand; he smiled. She started to get up, but when she stood up on her feet she felt a searing pain in her left ankle. She winced from the pain and took in a deep breath.

"Korra, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"My ankle." Korra was able to get out between sharp breaths from the pain.

Mako sat Korra back down. He knelt right beside her foot and gently took off her boot. Mako rolled up her pants to show her dark brown skin. He lightly caressed her left foot in his hands. Her ankle had bruises on it. She winced when he tried to move her foot.

Mako looked up at Korra. He could see the pain in her eyes. "Korra, I think you sprained your ankle."

She sighed. "Ugh, now it is going to take us longer to get to where we are going. I can barely stand."

"Don't worry you can use me for support to help you walk and take the weight off of your ankle."

Mako stood up again and this time he tenderly helped Korra back up. She rested her left arm around Mako's neck while he held his right arm around her waist. They started to walk again, but at a much slower pace. They slowly hobbled along. Korra looked at Mako who was filled with agony and concern for Korra and softly smiled at him.

"Thank you, Mako."

"You thank me too much." He laughed.

"That's because you are always there for me and do things for me that deserve a thank you."

"Korra, when are you going to realize that I am and will always be there to help you for anything no matter how challenging?" He smiled at her.

She blushed. Korra lightly kissed Mako's shoulder. Mako's cheeks turned red. Then they silently continued marching on.

* * *

The sun was setting and they were wandering somewhere in the mountains. Korra worried that they were lost but the rest of the group seemed to know where they were. She was just following Mako; she kind of had to because without him she could not stand. She was sick of not knowing where they were heading. She wanted to know the place that they were going, or if they were even going to a specific place.

"Ugh, seriously, we have been walking for hours. Are we there yet? When are we getting to wherever it is we are going? Speaking of which, where, for spirits sake, are we going? I am really sick of not knowing where the heck you are taking me!" She moaned.

They all stopped and looked at Korra. Mako then shot a grin at Bolin. "We might as well tell her. We got this far already, it wouldn't make a difference."

Bolin wasn't looking at Mako and was barely listening to him. Bolin was looking around feverishly at his current surroundings. He squinted in one direction for a few seconds then looked back at the group with a smile. "We don't have to tell her; she can see it for herself. We are here."

Bolin turned around and started walking in the direction that he was previously staring at. Korra noticed a small farm house by the side of a mountain. Korra thought their destination would be grander than just an old rustic farm house, but she could see the joyful grins on the other's faces so the trip must have been worth it. They walked up to the door of the farm house and Bolin knocked on the door. They waited a moment until an old grey haired grumpy man opened the door. As soon as he saw them, the man's ill-tempered attitude faded away. The man was happy.

"Toza!" Bolin cried out as he hugged the old man who was substantially shorted than him.

"Bolin!" The man shouted back. He pulled away from the hug and looked at the two boys before him. "Mako, Bolin, it is so great to see you two again. I was so sure that you two were dead by now."

Bolin grinned. "Well, they don't call us 'fresh and juicy' for nothing." He joked.

Toza laughed but then became serious. "Wait, before we have this long overdue reunion, I need to see your identification, ya' know just for safety."

Bolin bend a rock from the ground and caught it in his hand. "Is that enough identification for you?"

"Sure. Now, come in, all of you. It is getting dark." He gestured them in. "So, I'm guessing you three completed your mission?" Toza whispered to Bolin.

"Yes, we have possession of the sea-hawk."

Toza nodded with approval. "Good. Good. Lin will be delighted to hear that. You should probably go see her right now. We can catch up later."

Bolin nodded. Toza guided them into the living room by the far wall. Toza then planted his legs on the ground and moved both his arms in a unison movement. He bent the rock wall aside to show a metal door, to what looked like a bunker, in the side of the mountain, hidden by the farm house. Toza unlocked the door and let the group in. They walked into the bunker and the door was quickly shut behind them and locked up.

* * *

_**A/N: Ps. I'll give you a hint for next chapter since i made you wait so long for this one and next chapter should have been in this one but whatever. next chapter you'll see a lot of the remaining characters from LOK and 'things' will be revealed. **_


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: Ok i am so so so sorry for the incredibly long wait for this update. if you want to , you can hate me, i would if i were you and had to wait this long for an update. i was planning to get this out a while ago but then Hurricane Sandy hit so i had to deal with that for like 2 weeks. But, luckily now that it is November and my seasonal job is over and as long as i dont get killed by school work, updates will be more frequent. and again i really do apologize for taking so long to update this. **_

* * *

The group stood at the end of a long metal hallway that opened up to a plethora of other metal hallways going in all different directions. The lighting was low and the area was scarce. The bunker gave out an ominous sense to it, which made Korra feel unsettled. They started to walk down the hallway. She leaned over closer to Mako.

"Mako, where are we?" She asked in a low curious tone.

Mako looked over at Korra and lightly smiled. His mouth slightly opened, he was just about to tell her, when a man's voice yelled out to them.

"Hey you there, who are you? Are you supposed to be here? Intruder!"

They all quickly looked to see a man running towards them. The man was wearing metal armor and hat. He shot metal wires at them and tied each of their arms together. Korra quickly fell to the ground because of her loss of support from Mako.

"Korra, are you okay?!" Mako called out to her.

She looked up at him. "Yeah, I'm fine."

They all went back to looking at the man who was quickly approaching them. When the man got close to them, Mako and Bolin shared a devious look. Bolin quickly bent off the metal wires that were wrapped around their arms freeing them. Mako shot a few fire blasts at the man, knocking the man out momentarily, and grabbed Korra by the hand.

They quickly ran down a few hallways, turning left and right every so often. They passed a few doors, and occasional people who just so happened to be in their way. The man quickly woke up and chased the group. He called for backup, now there were a few men chasing them down the metal halls. Korra was trying to run fast enough but she couldn't with her ankle, so Mako quickly picked her up and carried her as he ran.

They were quickly nearing their destination, when a woman with blackish-grayish hair and a metal uniform came bursting out of a room. She stood stern in the middle of the hallway. The group stopped in their tracks and gasped for air in front of her. Mako let Korra down. The men chasing them also stopped.

"What is all this commotion?" She demanded.

Mako, Bolin and Asami looked up at her. "Chief Beifong, we're back." Bolin said as he still caught up on air.

A bald man dressed in yellow and orange robes with arrows tattooed to his skin walked out of the room where Chief Beifong was previously. "Lin, what is happening?" He looked over and noticed the teenagers. "Mako, Bolin, Asami, where did you-? How did you-? When did you-?"

"Pull yourself together, Tenzin." Lin commanded. "Men, stand down." She told the guards who were chasing them. "You four, come with me." Lin gestured to her office as she walked in. They all followed. Lin sat down behind her desk. Tenzin stood near her. She was stoic with a serious grin to her face. "So, you three survived the camp? Congratulations. Did you get what I asked for, or did you show up empty handed?" Lin inquired.

Mako and Bolin stood aside to reveal Korra standing behind them. The two boys smirked.

"Chief Beifong, meet Korra." Mako let out in a cocky tone. "Can we have a chair for Korra? She sprained her ankle."

Tenzin pushed a chair from the side of the room towards Mako and Korra. Mako gestured to Korra to sit and she did. Korra was exhausted, she gladly sat down. Korra looked straight at the older woman. She admittedly was afraid of this woman, and throughout her life Korra feared few things. Tenzin grabbed a guard and told him to get a healer for Korra's ankle, and then he returned by Lin's side.

Korra sat there silent and still. She didn't know how to react. This was too overwhelming for her; she was in a foreign place meeting foreign people and being attacked by some of those people. She was speechless. She wanted to speak up but the words did not make it to her mouth. Lin took one look at the girl and stood up. Lin walked over to Korra and started circling her. The chief examined Korra without a word.

"So, _you're _the girl we have been looking for?" Lin inquired in a patronizing tone.

Korra wondered and was surprised as to why this woman would be looking for her. She was just Korra, nothing more, nothing less. She was just an orphan who grew up among the street rats. "I- I am?"

Lin didn't answer Korra; she returned to her desk and sat down. "So, you're a Water Tribe. Girl, who are your parents?!" Lin demanded. It took Korra a moment to respond. "You do have parents, don't you?"

"T-Tonraq and S-Senna."

"Tonraq and Senna are your parents?" Korra nodded. "Do you even know what happened to them?!" Lin gritted.

"They were taken away when I was a child and I-"

"They were killed." Lin shouted as she hit her desk and rose up.

"Lin, calm down." Tenzin reassured her.

Lin paused for a moment and sat back in her seat. "Tonraq and Senna were killed by the equalists over ten years ago for being part of the resistance, and we have in our records that they had one daughter together- a daughter that was killed along with them. Why should I believe you when you say they are your parents?"

Korra couldn't respond. Korra had fully known that her parents were dead; she figured that out shortly after her escape when they didn't come back. However, this was the first time she heard someone actually tell her that her parents were dead. Deep down she always had this tiny hope that her parents were still alive somewhere, but now all her hopes were confirmed false.

"Because- because they are my parents. They raised me until they were taken away, they loved me. Why would I lie about something like that?"

"You'd be surprised about the things people lie about in times like these."

"I escaped that night. I escaped because my parents told me to. I saw the equalists in my house. They were coming for me, but they didn't catch me. My parents sacrificed their life for me. When they told me to run, I was a bit wary at first- I was six years old and scared- but then I ran. By the time the equalists got to my room I was gone. I watched my parents leave my house in chains, and that was the last time I saw them. If Tonraq and Senna weren't my parents I wouldn't have had to live on the streets for a majority of my life, I wouldn't have had to struggle to find my next meal, I wouldn't have had to fend for myself, and most importantly I wouldn't have had to live with the constant agonizing pain of knowing that I was truly alone in this world with no one but myself to carry me on. So, I can tell you, this is something that I cannot and am not lying about."

Mako lowered his head in grief because he fully understood the burden she felt.

Lin opened her mouth as if she was just about to speak when an old frail woman walked in through the door. "Did someone call a healer?" She asked in a kind tone.

"Mother, What are you doing out of bed?!" A frazzled Tenzin yelled.

"Tenzin, just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm useless. There is no better healer then I am. Now who do I need to heal?"

"Korra. She sprained her ankle." Mako injected.

The older woman looked at the girl sitting down and smiled. She placed her bucket of water beside Korra and kneeled down. The woman gently grabbed Korra's ankle, and Korra winced in pain for a moment. The woman let go of Korra's ankle and looked up at the wide-eyed girl.

"So, you must be Korra." She paused for a moment. "It is so nice to see you again." The woman bent a ball of water out of the bucket and moved it to Korra's ankle.

Korra was confused. As far as she had known she had never known this woman. "We have met before?"

The woman didn't respond to Korra's question "You're right, your ankle is sprained. Don't worry I can patch that up in a second."

The woman wrapped the water that was in her control around Korra's ankle. Korra felt the southing cold on her leg. She looked down at her ankle and the water that surrounded her ankle was glowing a bright blue color. Korra's eyes widened at the sight. After a minute or two the woman released her control on the water and put it back into the bucket. Korra was wary at first but she moved her ankle slightly; she felt no pain. Her ankle was completely healed. Korra was amazed by this.

Korra looked down at the woman and smiled. "Thank you." She said softly. The woman smiled back and nodded before standing up.

Lin, growing impatient, spoke up. "Okay, enough with this nonsense. Just prove to me that you're who we are looking for." She dictated of Korra.

"How?" Korra replied timidly.

"Bend."

Korra sat there silent and held out her hand. A small fire ball burst from her hands. Korra looked up at Lin, but Lin was still not impressed.

"Okay, now bend something else."

This confused Korra; she didn't understand what Chief Beifong was asking of her. So, Korra held out her hand and shot three fire balls up into the air slightly above.

"I don't have time for this garbage. Bend something other than fire. Bend another element!"

Korra quickly looked around the room. Her eyes were wide. She didn't know what to do. She saw the large group of people staring at her waiting for her to do something.

"Go ahead Korra; bend the water in the bucket beside you. Just push and pull." The old woman encouraged.

Mako, Bolin and Asami watched Korra nervously; they knew that the only time she had bent water she had no idea what she was doing. Korra fretfully looked down at the bucket of water. She was at a loss of what to do.

"Hurry up." Lin yelled.

The frazzled Korra quickly moved her hand over the bucket. She figured, how hard could it be; it's just the same basics as firebending just with water, right? Korra took in a deep breath and closed her eyes.

'Just push and pull. Push and pull.' Korra thought to herself repeatedly. 'How the heck am I supposed to do that?!' She worried.

She took another breath and calmed herself down. Korra cleared her mind and let her instincts take control. Korra slowly raised her hand up a few inches then lightly lowered it back. She did this motion repeatedly while raising her hand slightly higher each time. There was a gasp of excitement that came from the room. Korra frightfully opened her eyes to see if she was actually doing anything or just embarrassing herself. She opened her eyes to see a thin column of water coming up from the bucket. Shocked that she was even able to do that, she lost control of the water and let it fall back into the bucket below. Korra turned to see Mako, Bolin and Asami grinning wildly.

"So I guess you are the real deal." Lin let out with a huff. Korra quickly turned her head towards Lin. "So now this becomes a matter of your training. I will teach the girl earthbending. Tenzin, you will obviously teach her airbending."

"Yes, of course." Tenzin replied.

"But, what about water and fire bending?" Lin talked aloud to herself.

"Wait-" Korra tried to bud in but she went unheard.

"I'll teach Korra firebending." A voice from behind Korra announced. It was Mako. "I'll teach her firebending, I have already taught her a few moves."

"Fine." Lin approved. "Now what about a waterbending teacher; Do you think Tarrlok would be a good candidate?"

"Eh, I don't know. I don't think Tarrlok would in fact be the right fit. Plus, I don't really like the guy." Tenzin imputed.

"Tenzin, you cannot put your personal preferences in front of the matters at hand."

"But still, the guy is fishy. I don't trust him."

"Ahem" They heard from the corner of the room. "Forgetting something." The old woman pointed out.

"Yes, mother?"

"Aren't you forgetting that I am the best waterbender that there is today, and that I have immense experience in training and teaching waterbending especially with Korra's case."

"But mother, you are frail. You must rest."

"Tenzin, you have to admit she is the best there is." Lin added.

"No, Tenzin you will listen to your mother. I will not rest. I have fought in two wars during my lifetime. I helped reconstruct the entire world with the help of my friends. I know when it is time to step up and I will not turn my back on a world that needs me, and if this is the only way I can help the world I sure am doing it. I am not just a useless old woman."

Tenzin sighed. "Very well."

"Then it is settled. Mako, Tenzin, Katara and I will all train Korra."

"Wait, wait, wait a minute. No, nothing's settled. Why do I have to do all of this training?" Korra shouted.

"Because Korra, you're the avatar."


End file.
